In what ended up being a surprise to many back in April, former Oregon Ducks' offensive linemen Kyle Long was the third guard selected in the 2013 NFL draft (No. 20 overall). Long played only one season for the Ducks, but did enough in that short span to convince the Chicago Bears he was worthy of their first-round pick. According to Pro Football Focus, the Bears had one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL last season.

Now, with training camp in full swing and Long's NFL career underway, the 24-year-old rookie guard is trying to put his development into overdrive.

Since being drafted by the Bears, one thing appears to be clear: Long is oozing with potential. The early reports from training camp include plenty of raves, alongside reservations about his technique and concerns about his steep learning curve. Long is expected to play a significant role for the Bears and could even wind up starting on the offensive line in Week 1 against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Here's a look at what's being said about Long as Bears training camp rolls along:

Long has already impressed the coaching staff with his strength, but his technique still needs some work. He wouldn’t start if there was a game this week, but he could certainly win the starting right guard job over James Brown by Week 1.

• Adam L. Jahns of the Chicago Sun-Times writes about Long's first practice. He quotes Long talking about it:

“It was fast — very fast,” Long said after the Bears’ first day of practice at training camp Friday. “[There’s] just an immense amount of talent on this field.

“Physically, I feel fine,” Long continues. “But from a technical standpoint, there’s things I need to work on, and that’s obvious. ... The cool thing about this offense is there are a lot of zone-read principles. The zone-read offense is something that we did at Oregon.”

“He’s a gifted kid,” Bushrod said. “He has it physically, it will just be getting it mentally and getting into his playbook. That’s going to come with time. This is not an easy offense to learn, I mean it took me a year or two. Even the first year I had to start, just knowing where your help is, how to be in the right position, where your help is, he’s learning all that. He’s an eager kid that just wants to get better, day in and day out.

“He asks me questions, he asks [Roberto] Garza questions, he asks coach questions. He does the same things I used to do when I was a rookie. He wants to have success. He’s going to be successful and I’m excited about his future.”

[Long] stands out at times because he looks like a boy among men in terms of savvy. But he stands out more because he looks like a man among boys in terms of brute strength.

Yes, Kyle Long stands out. ... When Long gets it right, he doesn't just block a defender. The son of Howie Long manhandles him. It's something to see. ...

If Long gets beat, it is more likely to be because he is confused or is using poor technique as opposed to being overpowered or out-quicked.

• Dig further into the story, and in a related note, Pompei has another interesting caveat from Long about his learning curve for the Bears:

He has been taken a little aback by the attention to technique that has been demanded of him by offensive line coach Aaron Kromer.

"I've never had anything like it," Long said. "We went so fast at Oregon, we sacrificed technique for tempo. We wanted to go fast, fast, fast, fast. There wasn't a lot of time to get coached. We had great coaches there, but because of the format of practices, there wasn't a lot of hands-on one-on-one coaching. That's one thing coach Kromer does a great job of."

• CBS Chicago also has a quote from Long comparing training camp under new Bears head coach Marc Trestman with how Kelly ran practice:

“From a conditioning stand point, you’re superiorly conditioned,” Long said. “You can go faster for longer. So in the fourth quarter, play 11 on a drive, you know that the other guy’s tongue is going to be hanging out of his mouth, dragging on the ground, and you’ve been there, you’ve done that because of the tempo that we go at practice.”

• John Mullin of CSNChicago.com writes about Long's offseason regimen, and how it might translate into his NFL career:

The rookie right guard spent time working this offseason with Jay Glazer of FOX Sports, a former Mixed Martial Arts fighter himself and who has trained numerous NFL players in the hand-to-hand combat techniques of MMA.

“He is the meanest, nastiest dude I’ve ever trained,” Glazer told CSNChicago.com. Glazer works at FOX with Kyle’s father Howie, a Hall of Fame defensive end and Oakland Raider tough guy, and “Kyle’s just like Howie back in the day. He’s the nicest kid but he’s exactly what you want in your offensive lineman. He’ll fight you first."

Long was pitted in Graeco-Roman wrestling and other sessions against MMA legend Chuck Liddell, Green Bay Packers No. 1 draft choice and defensive end Datone Jones and others.